Door 8
Behind door 8 of MechanXmas hides ✨ Twilight Inscription, and the mechanism it represents is roll & write. We chose to cover this game again, because it is truly pushing the boundaries of what a R&W game is. It’s quite a big game compared to its run-off-the-mill siblings, both in size and price. Since we never had the chance to play Twilight imperium, I cannot say if it resembles it in any way (probably not much), but it is an amazing game with a ton of decisions to make, and a ton of things to scribble down on your boards.
It is actually a flip and roll and write at the same time. Cards will dictate what type of round you are playing - Strategy being the most common, where you get some resources you can spend. But the card could signal a War with your immediate neighbours, or a Council meeting where you decide what law to pass; or alternatively just Producing some trade goods.
There is a big decision for you to make each round: which of one your 4 sheets will you be marking?
🧭 Navigation, where you travel to and claim new systems
🌍 Expansion, where you mark columns and rows of explored planets to claim assets
🏗️ Industry, where you cross off or claim different commodities
⚔️ Military, where you draw tetris shaped spaceships on different war fronts
The dice will show 3 different resources that you can use. Each sheet has its own rules and kind of mini-games in how you have to mark things. 6 dice are rolled each round but at first you can only use the 3 black ones, but later you can unlock each of the colored dice too.
The game easily takes 90 minutes for 2p for us, but every round is very engaging. It is not much of a social game though, as you will be staring down on your sheets and thinking hard (and silent). 😂
I was thinking about choosing Ganz Schön Clever for our R&W nominee - to me it is the original roll and write. But we choose Twilight Inscription instead, because it’s the biggest and baddest of them all, basically pumped full of steroids.
Other honorable mentions for this category that I must mention are:
🌟 Super Skill Pinball 4-Cade
🌟 Rajas of the Ganges: Dice Game
🌟 Railroad Ink
